Happy Birthday, Joel!

This last weekend Joel turned 27. Wow, I guess we really are grown ups. I still remember celebrating his 15th birthday at Romano's in Anchorage with his family and then going back to his place to all watch a movie. This was the 13th birthday celebration we have had together. Next year, we will have know each other for half of our lives. Crazy... but wonderful.

On Friday night we went to Wolftrap (a National Parkt that is also a lovely performing arts venue) to see Riverdance. We got there really early and had a lovely picnic and nap in the grass.

Our dessert- Italian Pannacotta and espresso and chocolate mousse shots from Trader Joe's.
I didn't take this picture (haven't been on any helicopter rides lately) but here's Wolf Trap. On Saturday I made Joel breakfast in bed and then we lounged around and watched a David Mamet movie. For lunch we were going to have a picnic, but as you can see from the window in this picture, it was very stormy and rainy. So we improvised...
I got Joel a cappuchino maker for his birthday. Here he is making his second (or third?) of the day. It's a DeLonghi Bar32 espresso maker and is highly recommended!
Later that evening we went out to dinner at Del Merei Grill for dinner and enjoyed a yummy meal of steak and crab cakes. We came home and ate cake. I ventured out of my comfort zone into the baking realm for Joel's birthday cake this year. It turned out really well. I recommend this article about how to frost the perfect cake. It works! I also recommend getting a cake decorating bag and tips for the more fun decorating part.

The birthday boy lights his candles- all 27 of them! Here you can see the cake... before...... and after. The middle filling was buttercream frosting mixed with Lemon Curd and the outside frosting was vanilla buttercream. The cake itself was vanilla. Yum yum!